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Ornithurine
Ornithurae (meaning "bird tails" in Greek) is a natural group that includes modern birds and their very close relatives such as the ichthyornithines and the hesperornithines. This clade is defined in the ''PhyloCode'' by Juan Benito and colleagues in 2022 as "the smallest clade containing ''Ichthyornis dispar'', ''Hesperornis regalis'', and '' Vultur gryphus''". Classification Ernst Haeckel coined the name in 1866 and included in the group all "true birds" with the "characteristic tail morphology of all extant birds" (translation by Jacques Gauthier). This distinguishes the group from ''Archaeopteryx'', which Haeckel placed in another new group called Sauriurae. Said simply, modern birds have short, fused pygostyle tails, while ''Archaeopteryx'' retained the long tail characteristic of non-avian theropod dinosaurs.Haeckel, Ernst (1866). ''Generelle Morphologie der Organismen''. Berlin: Georg Reimer. Gauthier converted Ornithurae into a clade, giving it a branch-based definiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gargantuavis
''Gargantuavis'' (meaning 'gargantuan bird') is an extinct genus of large, primitive bird containing the single species ''Gargantuavis philoinos''. It is the only member of the monotypic family Gargantuaviidae. Its fossils were discovered in several formations dating to 73.5 and 71.5 million years ago in what is now northern Spain, Southern France, and Romania. ''Gargantuavis'' is the largest known bird of the Mesozoic, a size ranging between the cassowary and the ostrich, and a mass of like modern ostriches, exemplifying the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs was not a necessary condition for the emergence of giant terrestrial birds. It was once thought to be closely related to modern birds, but the 2019 discovery of a pelvis identified as cf. ''Elopteryx nopcsai'' from what was Hațeg Island (present-day Romania) shows several primitive features. Its femur shows that it was a graviportal form rather than cursorial, not adapted for running. Due to fragmentary remains, many asp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tingmiatornis
''Tingmiatornis'' (meaning "bird that flies") is a genus of flighted and possibly diving ornithuran dinosaur from the High Arctic of Canada. The genus contains a single species, ''T. arctica'', described in 2016, which lived during the Turonian epoch of the Cretaceous. Description Given the small number of bones that are referrable to ''Tingmiatornis'', it is difficult to infer much about the animal. However, the thickness of the cortical bone (on average, ) and the relative length of the humerus suggest that it was apparently capable of flight and likely also diving, similar to the possible hesperornithine '' Pasquiaornis''. ''Tingmiatornis'' can be differentiated from the latter by numerous traits including larger size, a more globe-shaped dorsal condyle on the humerus, an olecranon process of the ulna that does not project outward as strongly, as well as a smaller bicipital tubercle of the ulna. ''Tingmiatornis'' also differs from ''Ichthyornis'' in the following ways: the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cerebavis
''Cerebavis'' (from Latin ''cerebrum'', "brain", and ''avis'', "bird") is an extinct genus of ornithuran dinosaurs that lived during the middle Cenomanian of the Late Cretaceous period, and is known from a single partial skull (PIN 5028/2) found in the Melovatskaya Formation of Volgograd Region in Russia. The skull was initially described as the fossilised brain of an enantiornithean by Russian palaeornithologist Evgeny Kurochkin and colleagues in 2006. Kurochkin and colleagues described ''Cerebavis'' as having a notable mixture of ancestral traits, such as a well-developed olfactory system, with derived traits of modern birds like a large cerebrum. At the same time, they identified various unusual and unique features not seen in the brains of reptiles or birds. These include well-developed auditory tubercles on the midbrain, as well as a prominent parietal organ compared to living birds or ''Archaeopteryx'' between them. In 2011 the fossil was reinterpreted as an incomplete and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ichthyornithes
Ichthyornithes is an extinct group of toothed avialan dinosaurs very closely related to the common ancestor of all modern birds. They are known from fossil remains found throughout the late Cretaceous period of North America, though only two genera, '' Ichthyornis'' and '' Janavis'', are represented by complete enough fossils to have been named. Ichthyornitheans became extinct at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, along with enantiornitheans, all other non-avian dinosaurs, and many other animal and plant groups. Origin and evolution The earliest known ichthyornitheans appear in the fossil record about 95 million years ago, during the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous. Based on fragmentary fossil remains, the two known species present in the Ashville Formation have not been given names, but overall were very similar to ''Ichthyornis dispar''. ''I. dispar'' itself had a very long temporal range, and specimens referred to it or very similar species existed relatively unchange ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cimolopterygidae
Cimolopterygidae is an extinct family of ornithurine, ornithuran dinosaurs known from the Late Cretaceous epoch. Remains attributed to cimolopterygids have been found in the Frenchman Formation of Saskatchewan, the Lance Formation of Wyoming, the Fox Hills Formation of Colorado, the Hell Creek Formation of Montana, and the Allen Formation of Río Negro Province, Rio Negro, Argentina. Most date to the end of the Maastrichtian age, about million years ago, though a much earlier species has also been identified from the Campanian-aged Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, about 75 million years ago. References Cimolopterygidae, Dinosaur families Late Cretaceous dinosaurs {{Paleo-bird-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ichthyornithines
Ichthyornithes is an extinct group of toothed avialan dinosaurs very closely related to the common ancestor of all modern birds. They are known from fossil remains found throughout the late Cretaceous period of North America, though only two genera, ''Ichthyornis'' and ''Janavis'', are represented by complete enough fossils to have been named. Ichthyornitheans became extinct at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, along with enantiornitheans, all other non-avian dinosaurs, and many other animal and plant groups. Origin and evolution The earliest known ichthyornitheans appear in the fossil record about 95 million years ago, during the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous. Based on fragmentary fossil remains, the two known species present in the Ashville Formation have not been given names, but overall were very similar to ''Ichthyornis dispar''. ''I. dispar'' itself had a very long temporal range, and specimens referred to it or very similar species existed relatively unchanged (o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight Bird skeleton, skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 Order (biology), orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have Bird wing, wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the Flightless bird, loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemism, endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qinornis
''Qinornis'' is a genus of extinct ornithuran from the early-mid-Paleocene epoch (late Danian age), about 61 million years ago. It is known from a single fossil specimen consisting of a partial hind limb and foot, which was found in Fangou Formation deposits in Luonan County, China. The bones show uniquely primitive characteristics for its age, and its describer considered that it was either a juvenile of a modern bird group or, if an adult, the only known non- neornithine bird to have survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.Xue, (1995). "''Qinornis paleocenica'' - a Paleocene bird discovered in China." ''Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg'', 181: 89-93. Unusually for such a recent bird, the bones of the foot are not completely fused to one another. This characteristic is found in juvenile modern birds, and in adults of more primitive, non-neornithean ornithurine birds, all of which were assumed to have become extinct in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction even ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austinornis
''Austinornis'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric ornithuran of uncertain phylogenetic placement from the Late Cretaceous of Texas. The paleontologist Julia A. Clarke named the genus in 2004 based on a partial tarsometatarsus fossil from Austin Chalk. Although ''Austinornis'' was thought to be a pangalliform, other researchers have disputed its classification and dismissed it in phylogenetic analyses due to the fragmentary nature of the holotype. Notably, in 2014, Gerald Mayr suggested that ''Austinornis'' is a non-neornithine from the Coniacian or Santonian age and that the specimen probably belongs to the ornithurine ''Apatornis'' or ''Iaceornis ''Iaceornis'' is a genus of marine ornithuran dinosaurs closely related to modern birds. It was endemic to North America during the Late Cretaceous, living about 83.5 million years ago. It is known from a single fossil specimen found in Gove Cou ...''. References Ornithurae Prehistoric bird genera Cretaceous birds Prehist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hesperornithines
Hesperornithes is an extinct and highly specialized group of aquatic avialans closely related to the ancestors of modern birds. They inhabited both marine and freshwater habitats in the Northern Hemisphere, and include genera such as ''Hesperornis'', ''Parahesperornis'', ''Baptornis'', ''Enaliornis'', and ''Potamornis'', all strong-swimming, predatory divers. Many of the species most specialized for swimming were completely flightless. The largest known hesperornithean, ''Canadaga arctica'', may have reached a maximum adult length of . Hesperornitheans were the only Mesozoic avialans known to colonize the oceans. They were wiped out in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, along with enantiornitheans and all other non-avian dinosaurs. Anatomy and ecology Most of what is known about this group rests on analyses of single species, as few provide sufficiently complete fossils for analysis. Although some of the smaller and more basal species, like those belonging to the subgr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PhyloCode
The ''International Code of Phylogenetic Nomenclature'', known as the ''PhyloCode'' for short, is a formal set of rules governing phylogenetic nomenclature. Its current version is specifically designed to regulate the naming of clades, leaving the governance of species names up to the rank-based nomenclature codes ('' ICN'', '' ICNCP'', '' ICNP'', '' ICZN'', '' ICVCN''). The ''PhyloCode'' is associated with the International Society for Phylogenetic Nomenclature (ISPN). The companion volume, ''Phylonyms'', establishes 300 taxon names under ''PhyloCode'', serving as examples for those unfamiliar with the code. RegNum is an associated online database for registered clade names. The ''PhyloCode'' regulates phylogenetic nomenclature by providing rules for deciding which associations of names and definitions are considered established, which of those will be considered homonyms or synonyms, and which one of a set of synonyms or homonyms will be considered accepted (generally the one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
